The measurement standard of leadership must provide an organisation with comprehensive methodology, processes and systems to effectively assess the organisational impact of leadership programmes and processes,” said Dr Andrew Johnson, General Manager of Eskom’s Leadership Institute when discussing the measuring of leadership perspectives for standardisation, at a breakfast lecture hosted by Unisa SBL.
Dr Andrew Johnson, General Manager of Eskom's Leadership Institute
The elements for credible leadership include an integrated leadership framework that incorporates the leadership brand of the organisation. This brand focuses on leadership philosophy and is anchored in the brand value. The leadership framework includes intensive measurement that entails an annual 360˚ brand evaluation aligned to brand values and competencies and capture the progress of the leadership effectiveness journey in the leadership scorecard.
He discussed the process of what standard would look like to measure leadership effectiveness. The measurement must be kept simple, be based on science and the measurement must be aligned with overall intent of the leadership institute, include the perspective on all the key elements of leadership development and include quantitative and qualitative measures.
The scorecard as measurement tool must accept that the investment in leadership excellence must lead to demonstrable business benefits and that this investment be able to ensure that specific deliverables are achieved. The implications of utilizing the scorecard are that specific sequences must be applied to the dimensions and elements of the leadership measurement model and that each of the measures/ metrics may be of strategic, tactical, operational or quality type and this model may exist for various subgroups in the organisation.
Developed a conceptual measurement model with four strategic values being; leadership strategy, leadership assessment and development, leadership capacity and the business value add was developed over 18 months and tested and refined in the industry. The leadership scorecard is regarded as the standard applied to this model. In order to develop this model and the standards it must ultimately be determined what the impact it will have on the organisation. The model must also determine the trends within the specific leader. Standardisation implies that this model can evolve over time and it must be clear in measuring whether the leader is effective or not.
He concluded that ultimately the measurement must create self-awareness for the leader to develop a level for the effective demonstration of leadership behaviours. Measurement must also enable the leader to identify the competencies that indicate development needs as well as areas of strength. Ultimately it must enable the leader to understand the collective leadership effectiveness profile of the team.
